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Friedrich Klepner
Hauptsturmführer Friedrich Klepner was an SS officer who led Klepner's Raiders, a group of English-speaking infiltrators who operated behind enemy lines in occupied France. Taking the identity of American Private Henry Murfree of Nashville, Tennessee, he and three of his men were in a machine gun nest when French Resistance member Armand happened by. Overhearing them speaking in German, he realized they were infiltrators and threw a grenade into the nest. It killed all of Klepner's men but only injured the hauptsturmführer himself. Armand was unaware of this. Later, he was discovered by a group of Americans consist of Sergeant Chip Saunders, his men Littlejohn and Doc, and another sergeant named Larkin the three had met up with. He still pretended to be Murfree, and accused them of being German infiltrators. However due to his injured leg, he was unable to kill them and had to count on them for assistance. He went with them to a farmhouse owned by Armand's older brother, Lambert. While Larkin and the elderly Frenchman began fixing up a stretcher for "Murfree," Saunders took Littlejohn and Doc and went outside to scout the area. At this point, Armand arrived, recognizing Murfree as having been one of the German infiltrators from the machine gun nest. He took Lambert and the American sergeant into the kitchen to speak with them privately, but Klepner overheard them. Realizing "Murfree" was actually a German, Larkin drew his sidearm and rushed into the living room, only to be shot and badly wounded with his own rifle which Klepner had picked up. He also killed both brothers as they ran in to help. Hearing the shots, Saunders and the others returned. Klepner, reverting to pretending, claimed the men had shot one another, insisting that Armand and Lambert had been collaborators. As Doc tended to Larkin, he tried to speak, but all he seemed to get out was Klepner's name although he did not identify Murfree as Klepner. However, as Klepner watched, Larkin seemed to whisper something into Saunders' ear. He then died of his wound. Saunders claimed he hadn't made out what Larkin had whispered. With Littlejohn and Doc carrying him on a stretcher, the four men left the house and moved through the woods, trying to make it back to the American lines. All the while, Klepner showed off his intricate knowledge of the American South, and claimed that he'd been drafted just three days after Pearl Harbor and tried to dodge. As they came to a bridge, a German halftrack experiencing engine problems drove up. They hid in the woods as its crew got out to get water from the river. As they made coffee and fixed the engine, Klepner and his American benefactors waited for them to finish and go, although Klepner was impatient. He began insisting the Americans leave him behind, intending to approach the halftrack crew as his true self once they were gone. However, they refused. He pretended to start moaning in pain to attract the nearby Germans. A feldwebel and two other soldiers approached. However, eventually they decided they hadn't heard anything. They returned to the halftrack, but Klepner moaned again, and this time the Germans didn't stop and turn back, so Saunders fired at them and Littlejohn blew the halftrack up with a grenade. Eventually, under the pretense of changing positions on the stretcher during a break, Klepner tried to grab a grenade, but settled for Saunders' Thompson, which had been set aside against a tree trunk. He boasted that the Americans were stupid and gullible and thanked them for being his pack mules. However as he tried to fire the gun, it clicked emptily, allowed Littlejohn and Doc to rush him. It turned out that Larkin had identified Murfree as Klepner before dying, and that had been what he'd whispered into Saunders' ear. When Saunders left the Thompson intentionally within Klepner's reach, he'd made sure it was empty. Klepner sagged in defeat and allowed himself to be taken prisoner. Klepner, Friedrich Klepner, Friedrich Klepner, Friedrich Klepner, Friedrich Klepner, Friedrich Klepner, Friedrich Klepner, Friedrich Klepner, Friedrich Klepner, Friedrich